Everybody's Business: NLRB ruling could change college athletics

Is college football a business or an extra-curricular activity? Are college football players students or employees?

The National Labor Relations Board recently decided the case of the College Athletes Players Association vs. Northwestern University. It ruled that football players attending Northwestern on athletic scholarships are athlete-students, not student-athletes. As such, the players are employees of the university and are entitled to union representation by CAPA or others if they so desire. The ruling, by NLRB regional director Peter Sung Ohr, was based on these findings:

• The players perform services for the benefit of the university for which they receive compensation. The Northwestern football team generated $235 million in revenue over the nine years ending in 2012. The players received scholarships and stipends worth up to $76,000 each per year.

• In order to receive a scholarship, a player must sign a "tender" describing in detail the terms and conditions under which the scholarships will be provided. This tender is the equivalent of an employment contract. Any player who breaks the contract — by quitting the team, for example — can have his scholarship cancelled.

• Scholarship football players are not primarily students. They are recruited based on their athletic prowess. It is not until after they qualify as athletes that their high school academic record is examined for suitability. Football players work 40-50 hours per week between official practices, unofficial practices, weight training, mandatory team meals, travel, etc. By contrast, they spend approximately 20 hours per week in class.

• Playing football is a job, not an education. Athletes receive no academic credit for their participation and football coaches are not members of the college faculty.

• Football scholarships are not the same as the financial aid provided to non-football playing students. Football scholarships are conditioned upon the recipient playing football. No football, no scholarship.

• The appropriate class for union representation is scholarship football players. Northwestern argued that all football players were the appropriate class. Since "walk-on" or non-scholarship players are not receiving compensation, the NLRB ruled that they are not employees.

Northwestern is expected to appeal the ruling. If the ruling is upheld, CAPA will file for a union election at Northwestern. The union may then move on to other private universities. Public universities are not subject to NLRB rules.

The union movement will have to spread to be effective. Most terms of scholarship "employment" are dictated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, not individual universities like Northwestern. The NCAA regulates payment in excess of scholarships so it is the NCAA that needs to be changed. At Northwestern itself, players could gain improved working conditions such as better medical treatment or a reduction in football hours since "unofficial" workout hours clearly exceed the NCAA limits on official hours. Hours worked may be a doubled-edged sword for the union, however. If held to the NCAA limit of 20 hours per week, the athlete-students might revert to student-athletes no longer entitled to representation.

Beyond this, if unionized athletes are employees, are their scholarships salaries? If scholarships are salaries, do they become taxable income? If they do, the union movement had better get the tax laws changed or it will die before it begins.